Spotify has yet to implement native support for HomePod and HomePod mini, though Apple is opening up the speakers to third-party streaming music services in 2020. As a result, Spotify cannot be controlled using Siri on HomePod.
Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman addressed the matter in his newsletter this weekend, noting that Spotify had told him there hadn’t been a “significant amount” of complaints about the lack of HomePod support. A post on Spotify’s community site campaigning for native HomePod support has garnered over 5,800 votes for the idea since it was submitted in 2020, but Spotify has refused to budge despite Apple providing the necessary APIs to has made available.
In 2019, Spotify accused Apple of anti-competitive behavior in a lawsuit filed in the EU. Alongside the complaint, Spotify launched a “Time to Play Fair” website that lists alleged examples of unfair practices by Apple, including preventing Spotify from natively supporting the HomePod. But almost three years after Spotify was able to support the HomePod without further action from Apple, it has yet to follow suit.
Spotify has repeatedly promised to update its iPhone and iPad app with AirPlay 2 support, but so far hasn’t delivered. AirPlay 2 was introduced in 2018 with improvements to the original AirPlay protocol, including multi-room audio and improved buffering.
Spotify told Gurman that it “remains committed to supporting AirPlay 2 at some point in the future” and “is on track to make it happen eventually,” but the company couldn’t give a definitive timeframe. Spotify has been promising to support AirPlay 2 since at least 2021, so subscribers have been waiting for a long time.
